30,000 civilian guards to secure Chinese new year

30,000 civilian guards to secure Chinese new year

JAKARTA (JP): Some 30,000 civilian guards have been assigned
to assist security forces uphold a peaceful Chinese new year
celebration on Wednesday.

Head of the Indonesian Chinese Cultural Preservation
Foundation Acai told reporters, after a meeting with Governor
Sutiyoso, that the number excluded some 8,000 police and
Indonesian Military (TNI) troops who will be deployed for
citywide security patrols during the festivities.

Acai said the civilian guards, who had been recruited from the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), Laskar
Jihad (Jihad Force) and National Youth Guards Foundation (YPPB),
have been dispatched to safeguard some 130 Chinese temples across
the capital.

He added that approximately 300 guards would be posted near
the Glodok business district in Central Jakarta.

The capital was tormented by bomb attacks during the closing
months of 2000, and a wave of demonstrations are now expected
ahead of the announcement of a House of Representatives
investigation into financial scandals allegedly linked to
President Abdurrahman Wahid on Jan. 29.

Acai said the presence of civilian guards would also give no
room for large scale violence.

Some 1.5 million Chinese Indonesians who live in Jakarta will
celebrate the Chinese New Year 2552 on Wednesday.

Security was also bolstered in Surabaya, the country's second
largest city after Jakarta, as local police deployed 1,500
personnel to maintain order. Buildings under supervision include
21 temples.

Local Konghucu and Chinese associations, meanwhile, called on
people to celebrate the new year in moderation.

Separately, head of Jakarta's ministry of education office
Alwi Nurdin asserted that school activities should continue on
the Chinese new year.

"The government has never declared the Chinese new year a
public holiday. We expect no schools to halt activities on that
day," Alwi said.

He said business would continue as usual in some private
schools which have many students of Chinese Indonesians,
including Bunda Hati Kudus in Grogol, West Jakarta. Some others,
however, would cut short activities in observance of the
unofficial holiday.

Earlier this week, a number of Indonesian Chinese
organizations proposed to the Jakarta government that the Lunar
New Year be declared a national holiday, giving rise to debate
among the general public, including the ethnic Chinese community.

Minister of Religious Affairs Muhammad Tolchah Hasan told
journalists earlier this week that he had recommended to
President Abdurrahman that Imlek be made a national holiday, and
was awaiting a presidential decision.

Under former president Soeharto's rule, everything related to
Chinese culture was banned from public display and the ethnic
Chinese here were discouraged from celebrating the Lunar New Year
in the grand, traditional Chinese style. (04/edt/nur)